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ND/Empire of Night
The Empire of Night is the realm of the Dread Emperor Karsen. It consists of several kingdoms, once ruled by human royalty, that were conquered by Karsen and his lieutenants. The high aristocracy consists of various immortal and near immortal sorcerer-lords, supported by a military caste of orcs, goblins, trolls, ogres, and other near-human monsters. There is a vast population of oppressed human peasants, subject to strict rules and savage reprisals for breaking those rules. The Empire of Night is continuously at war, seeking to destroy the last hold-outs among the dwarves, elves, and reptilians. They have driven the minotaur villagers into the deepest forests and still pursue them. History No one is sure exactly who Dark Lord Karsen was or where he originally came from. He gained his first infamy in the savage northlands by forcibly unifying several orc tribes. He swept south, eventually attacking the Isenmarch. Legends of the claim he was defeated then, but the official histories of the Empire of Night don't acknowledge any defeat. Eventually, the Dark Lord Karsen faced off against the Incarnate Hope, a group of demi-gods made flesh and empowered to defeat him. He and his lieutenants defeated the Hope, conquered the remaining human realms, and formed the Empire of Night. In the centuries of shadow, there have been many attempts at rebellions against the Empire. These have generally been futile, as no rebel city has been strong enough to defeat the full might of the Empire and there are no outside forces that can be called upon as ally against the Empire. Life in the Empire of Night The Empire of Night is a vast collection of small farming villages controlled by the citadels of the orcs. Dread Emperor Karsen and his vile peerage control a few ruined cities and towns, the wreckage of the great civilization of humanity that Karsen conquered. People of the Empire of Night The vast majority of the Empire's population are normal human peasants. Aggressive taxation and orcish cruelty cause the average peasant to be underfed and timid. A few humans work as servants to the orcish military caste, and are slightly better fed. Orcs and humans can interbreed, but do so rarely, and orcish half-breeds are not welcome in their father's society. The military caste consists of around one orc for every twenty humans. The orcs live apart from the humans in regional citadels and forts. Ideally, the orcs are supposed to spend their time training for war, maintaining their gear, brutally enforcing the laws, and delivering humans for sacrifice in the worship of the Dread Emperor and his dark gods, but in many regions the orcs are lazy and only perform their duties when an aristocrat arrives to inspect them. Elves, dwarves, and most other non-human races are subject to immediate execution in the Empire of Night. Various half-breeds still live among humans, but hide their heritage to avoid being murdered by an overly zealous orc. Rumors abound of free elves and dwarves living beyond the reach of the Empire of Night but if these rumors are true, these elves and dwarves are doing nothing to defeat the Emperor. are a strange case. These doglike miners are nearly as oppressed as the human peasantry, but are allowed to use metal tools and are sometimes incorporated into the military to conduct siege operations. Technology, Religion, and Magic Orc society is technologically advanced, with minor magical tools supplementing their own craftsmanship. They are a TL 3+1 society, roughly equivalent to the historical Renaissance, though without gunpowder or anything similar. The human peasantry is mostly not allowed to touch metal, and lives a TL 0 society, though humans are generally familiar with orcish technology. In some areas, such as glass making, a few humans are privileged craftsman and somewhat immune to the arbitrary nature of orcish law enforcement. The societies of the Empire of Night don't really distinguish between magic and religion: magic is part of religious ceremonies and many priests perform magic. Some magic comes from study of profane texts and other magic calls upon dark gods, but any serious student of magic is necessarily a student of religion. The Dread Emperor Karsen has systematically destroyed all evidence of humanity's religions from before the Empire of Night, and generally does not allow humans to worship his dark gods. Humans are fit for sacrifice, not supplication. Orcs are required to worship Karsen's gods, but do so in mystery cults far away from the prying eyes of humanity. Crime and Punishment Peasants are almost under a suspended death sentence every day of their lives. They are forbidden from touching metal or weapons, training in any martial art, or eating meat (fish, flesh, or fowl) on the pain of death. A few people in every region are sacrificed to the Dread Emperor or his dark gods, especially to ensure the farmlands' fertility. Failing to show respect to the orcs is a crime that earns a brutal beating, while resisting an orc's attacks is a capital offense. Most crimes result in the death of the offender. Orcs believe in collective reprisal, killing families or even villages for acts of rebellion and large-scale violence against the orcs. Orcs themselves are subject to a savage law, though orcs are more likely to be flogged or scalped in the privacy of their citadels than executed in the street. It is a crime for orcs to show mercy with humans or allow humans to touch a weapon or handle anything made from metal. However, orcs are lazy and consider maintaining their gear to be beneath them, so they often allow favored humans to polish their armor and sharpen their blades. These humans are in a desperate place, as refusing an orc's orders is a crime and performing the tasks is a capital crime. It is generally safer to agree and thereby make the orc complicit in the crime, but inspections by the nobility are always fraught with danger. Social Order The lowest rank on the Imperial hierarchy are the outlaws and freedom fighters. Their existence is a capital offense and orcs are happy to execute the sentence. They live miserable lives in desolate swamps, trackless forests, and atop nearly impassable mountains. They survive as best they can by hunting and gathering, supplemented by clandestine trade with the peasantry. Mechanically, they are Status -1 with Social Stigma: Wanted Criminal. One step above them are the mass of peasantry. They work the lands for their orc overseers and pay a heavy tax for the privilege. Peasants may raise herd animals, but they cannot eat their flesh. They are status -1. There is a small urban population of relatively privileged craftsman: carpenters, weavers, dyers, leatherworkers, glassblowers, and the like. Legally, they are the same as peasants, but their skilled work gives them a measure of comfort and safety. Officially, there are no non-orcish smiths, but most orc garrisons tolerate human smiths rather than do the work themselves. Most craftsmen are status 0; a few very fortunate ones have nearly as much respect as an orc and are status 1. The orcs and goblins of the local and regional garrisons are the petty nobility. They effectively own the land and oversee the peasants' agriculture, though they mostly consider it beneath themselves to perform labor. They are status 1 or status 2, with orcs generally having more status than goblins and cavalry having more status than infantry. The true nobility consist of the army commanders, courtiers, warlocks, and black priests of the Empire of Night. They mostly live in a few palaces, castles, and cities, and generally don't interact with the rural peasantry except for irregular inspection tours. Not much is known about them. They are Status 3 to 5. The pinnacle of the nobility are the archdukes, pontiffs, and archmages. These are trusted allies and lieutenants of Dread Emperor Karsen, steeped in his wickedness and nigh-immortal. They rule entire regions from their palaces, attended by the nobility and legions of orcs, goblins, ogres, and trolls. They are Status 6 or 7. At the top of the hierarchy is Dread Emperor Karsen and the Imperial family. Little more than rumor is known about them. Karsen himself is reputed to be a power priest or sorceror, and may have been married multiple times - but it is not clear if there is currently an Empress. Imperial Princess Nima, the Dark Daughter, is his heir. Rumor claims she is a half-demon and her twisted heritage is visible to all who see her. Karsen is Status 8 and Nima is Status 7. There current fates unknown but they are generally believed to be victims of a coupe at the capital. Military The primary military unit of the Empire of Night is a regiment, a combined arms force built around orc knights, supplemented by orc foot soldiers and crossbowmen, and supported by goblin wolfriders and skirmishers. Typically, each walled town supports a regiment, based in a citadel either inside the town walls or nearby. These citadels are scattered around the country, roughly a day's march apart. Multiple regiments can be formed up into legions, headquartered out of the largest cities and commanded by an archduke or other lieutenant of the Dread Emperor. Each legion has its own composition, though there is usually an elite regiment at the core and other forces depending on the preferences and abilities of the commander. Typically, regiments stationed in nearby towns will be assigned to the legion when it goes to war. The most visible military unit of the Empire of Night is the company, a roughly 100 strong detachment of a regiment. Each regiment stations 2-6 companies among the larger villages in its area, and the companies patrol the smaller villages and farms. The orcs and goblins of a company are the enforcement arm of the Empire, confiscating food for taxes and brutalizing peasants. Most companies have a rough fort that they can retreat to in the case of uprising, but their real defense is the ability to summon the rest of the regiment. Discipline and maintenance in the companies is usually low, as the junior officers are more focused on their own luxuries and are confident their troops can handle any peasant uprising. Geography of the Empire of Night Big. Roughly the size of medieval Europe or the Roman Empire, around 2000 miles by 2000 miles. Population density averages out to 10 people/sq mi - going up to 20-30 people/sq mi in the central lands (ie, southern Aundar and southern Thrane) and along the coasts, and down to 1/2-2 people/sq mi in Talenta plains and the various mountains and swamps. Terrain prevalence in descending order is plains, hills, woodlands, swampland, mountains, rural, urban. Several major lakes but I'm hoping to avoid naval combat. Temperate climate. Tentatively using this map for geographic features and major towns and cities, but it will be cleaned up, renamed, and such at some future date. Improved map here, conveniently scaled to 1 mile to the pixel. Settlements are out of scale. Also available as an XCF file with layers for better editing with GIMP. Capital Region Probably in Breland, Thrane, or Aundair. Capital Probably Wroat, Xandrar, Varna, Passage, or Cragwar. Capital blah blah blah FIXME Hanist Hanist was peninsular realm in the southeast of the continent. It is now another province of the Empire of Night. This map shows Hanist at 1 mile per pixel in thumbnail and 1 mile per 4 pixels at full size. The hexes are 112 miles from side to side. Each hex is the tax area of one of Hanist's 27 towns and 8 cities. Hanist's total population is roughly 800,000. Roughly 80,000 live in the 8 major cities, another 70,000 live in the towns, and the rest of the population lives in the farming villages and in the countryside. City populations: 20K, 15K, 12K, 9K, 7K, 5K, 5K, 5K. A coastal region.